Okay, allow me to apologize in advance for the essay of a comment im about to leave. This is just the first chapter and I'm already like oh my god this is amazing. For one, Grover mention!!!! I feel like Grover is super underrated. Like, sure people mention him but they dont give him his props for being Percy's best friend. You don't form a lifelong empathy link with just anyone. So yes, thank you so much for including Grover and Percy being best friends and double thanks for talking about the empathy link as well I just ajdjfkldls them. I especially loved the part where Percy asked how he could form the link knowing Percy might have died only for Grover to shoot back the question about how Percy could believe he'd be the one to find Pan. It's trust, hope, faith, some amalgamation of all three. Maybe I can't find the right word but you put it beautifully
Also May Castellan mention?? She is so tragic and I love you for writing a fic including her as a main component. She really fits the theme that youre going for. I liked how you gave life to who she was before she became cursed. She was a painter, a traveler, a sculpture, all these things. Man she's so tragic, I know we only see things from Percy's point of view, so I'm not sure if Hermes does still visit her. That being said I kind of hate him for supposedly not checking in on her 😅
Speaking of that, Percy checking in on her, Crown, your mind. I think you are the only correct person ever, actually. Firstly, Percy is such a good character. He has no obligation to do that but he does and I love him for that. Him making sure she's okay, cleaning up, speaking with her and going along with her delusions. I think my heart broke a little at ever mention of May being proud of him or talking about how much he was like Hermes and her, insisting he calls her mom and then at the end she calls him Luke like 💔. She loved Luke so much, she would've been/is/was a good mom. I dont know how else to word it.
Speaking of moms, the story Drew told (also Drew mention yay!!!) I admit. I probably missed the moral as well, she would be just as disappointed at me lol. Which, can I just say I love stories with a clear theme throughout. An extended metaphor of sorts, even if I'm a bit slow on the uptake. The way of telling us details without spelling it all out for us is great. So far we've seen multiple mothers, the fish, the lion, May, Sally, Gaia(?), Rhea, and I admittedly don't know who the mom in the goat skin is. Anyways, the story of the lion, trying to provide the best she can even if she fails (providing meat it couldn't eat) and when the oryx dies she gets revenge, but at the end she eats them all the same. Love IS complicated, thats for sure. My understanding was that love became akin to possession by the end of it, hence the lioness eating the oryx, but again im pretty positive it went over my head LOL
The dream where Sally is using the new baby as a "second chance". Specifically the line "this one is mine." Hello Gaia, I'm starting to get an understanding of her mindset. Percy holding the scythe, comparing it to a trident, and still preferring to hold his mother's hand, your mind!!!!! It reminds me a lot of his fatal flaw, Loyalty, he'll fight for others if he has to but at the end of the day he'd rather be with those he cares for and is loyal too!!!
Okay okay, I'm almost done now, the last is just a few details. I'll do bullet points - Loved the acknowledgement of Achilles' curse and the side effects of it. Shockingly this is only the second fic I've ever read that included his sleepy boy disease. - CLOVIS MENTION!!! He is my favorite named side character that has only appeared like twice LOL. I just think a child of Hypnos could be really cool when explored more. I know we probably won't see more of him in this fic, but just know I was super excited to see him mentioned -The song they sang about waiting for a letter or some sign from the postman. I could talk much more about that and the two sides of a coin that is Sally and May both waiting for some sign their kids survived the war. I will not because this is already so long LOL -Lord of the wild Grover because I haven't mentioned him enough yet in this comment -Moms. All of them. Every mom ever. I think the moms of Percy jackson deserve a round of applause for doing the best they could under the circumstances given to them
I can't wait to read more and see where this goes. Is it following canon or will it diverge? Either way im a loyal subscriber, thank so much this was a fun read!
omg never apologize for an essay!! I’m so geeked and everything you reacted to are minds were connecting for real!! Also here’s an essay in return lol
Grover and Percy friendship forever!! he is literally Percy’s oldest friend and the change that they’ve seen each other go through and survive is so important to me. Like they don’t even have the childhood naïveté of the world when it comes to their lifespan, on their first quest together they saw Grover’s uncle dead on his search for pan and knew about Thalia dead because of the prophecy that Percy can now be beholden to. And still like you said faith hope and trust they chose to believe their friend would succeed where others failed because in a world where the line between gods and monsters are blurred and constantly attacking you, what are you left to believe in if not each other? (okay I will shut up now about the magic of friendship but omg the magic of friendship)
May Castellan!! I love her and I’m not sorry about it. Extremely compelled by this lady who chose to host the oracle despite its bad track record because she believed she could. The moment I thought, where does this confidence come from? The intricate backstory of May began. I love the idea of her being a jack of all trades similar to Hermes and charismatic to all hell. “She could sell anyone on anything” it’s juxtaposed with the usual oracle/seer schtick of never being believed and also the type of person I could see Hermes down bad for. And I love the idea that Luke gets his charisma from her and he’ll never know it!!
Okay does Hermes visit?? Or should I say does it matter? It will get touched upon later, but I always found it interesting in the flashback that May never expected to have Hermes forever, she knew gods were fickle and also came to terms with it (opposite of Beryl Grace). It’s funny how Hermes seemed hurt by that assessment of his nature (The Busy One is an epithet of his but he wanted to stay still for her.) anyways doomed love aside, a question that’s often brought up in some capacity is whether gods are capable of loving and can they do it “right”. Percy bets that they could if they tried but he also throughout the series has these moments of remembering that gods are beings just as much as they are ideas and it’s all a fun thought experiment that they have to live out.
Percy visiting May Castellan is my truth. Like that scene in TLO at the Castellan house where he’s so uncomfortable but he still calls her mom so for a moment she has her son? His compassion is so big, he cares so much. I also just have a thing with Percy and prophecy and how he saw Luke’s strong cut in TLT and felt it, they’re foils, intertwined. Percy lived through May’s nightmare in 4K and while he turned the Empire State Building blue for his mom, he witnessed the tragedy that drove May insane as the fates finally cut a blue string. But yes, Percy is kind and I just see it happening. Also just cuz someone’s mentally ill doesn’t mean their life isn’t worth living, Percy is the patron saint of lost causes and May was abandoned the moment she stepped into that attic. The idea of living past their expiry date is a connecting theme for them that I’m probably way too attached to lol.
May loving Luke is so important because it’s implied that she knew the circumstances in which he died. Aka knew that he’d do horrible things but she loved him regardless. Unconditional love can be so scary sometimes, if given the choice your child or the end of the world would she be like Marie Levesque and follow a plan if it meant her daughter was spared? Would she do anything so that he’d survive it hence her blessing so that he could swim in the Styx (and thus damning him to die)? I’m rambling, but she did love Luke but was she able to do it “right”? (something something parents are the gods of our childhood)
I love Drew too!! She’ll be more in the over all series, rather than here but know that I love her too. The story was actually something some nature documentary captured in Kenya that I heard a few weeks ago and thought about a lot so there’s no straight up moral in that sense. But like with most things I’ve created an understanding in my head. You’re def not slow on the uptake and I loveeeee extended metaphors so here’s to hoping I stick the landing. But motherhood and what it means to be a “good” mother. Like the lioness was providing to the best of her ability but what she provided couldn’t nourish the oryx. There’s the direct comparison to May who is making inedible food and whose fits are implied to physically hurt Luke (with the forceful grabbing that Percy mentions had he not the curse would’ve bruised.) and there’s the later comparisons that I’m trying to ease into that I won’t get into here. The mom in goat skin is Juno and the child Jason. Also nah you def caught the gist of it, because enmeshment is also a topic I really wanna get into with this verse so possession is really the word for it.
You are def getting a sense of Gaea. One of my top beefs of HoO was what the fuck Gaea even wanted like what would waking up even entail, who does she claim as hers vs not. She loves her children and hates those who hurt her children, but she’s literally the mother of almost everyone so it’s almost always her children that she hates/loves.
“ It reminds me a lot of his fatal flaw, Loyalty, he'll fight for others if he has to but at the end of the day he'd rather be with those he cares for and is loyal too!!!” Percy is so capable of choosing not to fight and relaxing but it is very much the world who tries to destroy his peace and if not his specifically than those that he cares for. He aspires to freedom and is bound by loyalty and that sucks for him!! He wants to be happy but for that he also needs his loved ones happy which is hard to ensure.
-his sleepy boy disease from the mark is also why I think he and Clovis should be dream friends. Like literally two most likely people to be asleep at camp. I don’t have concrete plans for him but like the war is over and I want Percy around the people he did it for. Plus there’s a small plot line of studying in your sleep bc who am I if not a slice of life lover.
-“Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes, I changed the lyric from boyfriend to baby because literally exactly what you said!!! Also my haha bc Hermes is shown as a mailman.
-PJO was about Daddy Issues and HoO is about Mommy Issues. It’s gonna be soooo much fun.
It is def canon divergence but the broad strokes are basically the same. Thank you again for such a fun comment!!! I probably rambled too much but this verse is so fun and you pointed out the things that I liked the most about it 💓💓💓💓
I'm finally getting the chance to sit down and reply to this comment because when I tell you it has been circling in my mind all day LOL unfortunately I have responsibilities that dont coincide with my PJO obsession sighh
Okay okay okay we are definitely on the same wavelength because everything you said about Percy and Grover’s friendship is just so real?? I think the relationships in PJO are something that could have been explored deeper. Like I would gladly sit through 500 pages of the campers day to day lives at this point.
You have these kids who are young and CHILDREN and then put the burden of monsters on top of them and oh yeah also here’s this quest that you will be forced to accept and leave the one safe place you've ever known! Now choose two of you're closest friends to go along with you and hope youre all strong enough to protect eachother and not die! Have fun! The older I get the more i understand where Luke was coming from honestly. If he hadn't started hurting demigods as well I mightve sided with him. (I am not immune to propaganda)
They are trauma bonded at this point. In a world where, like you said, the lines between monsters and gods get blurry who do you have left but eachother? I honestly love fics that explore the topic of all the different types of relationships in PJO.
"And I love the idea that Luke gets his charisma from her and he’ll never know it!!"
Oh my gosh you just reminded me of the fact that Luke was only a baby when she got cursed. Ouch. My heart. She would've been the best mother 🥲. Even in her current state she was always trying to do what was best for him, to warn him about what was coming. Something something lioness and the oryx. Yeah okay im starting to get it now, kudos to you holy moly
Also how dare you now I want a doomed love story about Hermes and May. I personally loved that from the get go she wasn't expecting Hermes to stick around. It's different than how the stories usually go and that's refreshing. I can totally see it too, especially with how you fleshed her out.
That's a good question, would it matter if Hermes did visit? I'm not too sure. What sort of love can you expect from a god? Or should you even dare to expect anything at all? When it comes to powerful immortal beings how long does the love last? Im with Percy on this, they are definitely capable of love and caring but man they need to get better at it adjfkdls I love hearing other people's interpretations of the gods, too. Are they beings capable of the same level of empathy as us or are they simply ideas? Concepts that try their best to play mortal but can't seem to get it quite right? im rambling now whoops sorry if this makes no sense at all LOL maybe I'll come back to it later
Gaia is the definition of "what's 18 more years?" Love that for her LOL
I'm team Give Percy a Break, poor guy needs one. Everytime I read him going "this prophecy might not even happen in my lifetime." I laughed. It’s a good thing im not a demigod, I would've packed up to Alaska first chance I got LOL. But seriously! Occasionally I'll look at the timeline between the books and realize just how closely together the first and the last prophecy was, dude can't catch a break!
I love that Clovis and Percy headcanon and I am now adopting it into my beliefs, thank you kindly 🙂↕️
I listened to the song the other day and again, ouch. I was surprised to learn i recognized a bit of it and surprised again that it was so upbeat despite the lyrics. The choice to have May sing it was perfect, I applaud you. I can't stop thinking about her character. She's perfect for Hermes, she's perfect for Luke. It makes me think about what could've been yknow? And now my Spotify keeps suggesting me songs of the same genre so there's that LOL
PJO is secretly just a test of how many issues these kids can fit. As the musical once said: Daddy doesn't love me and mommy is a god! Mommy can't protect me and daddy is a god!
the world really isn’t understanding over PJO obsessions 🤧 I felt that.
No for real!! I totally get you’ve gotta streamline your plot etc but I really need to know more about these kids perspective on their lives and each other. Like we were with Annabeth for so long, but like what was her relationship with these campers she grew up with? I have so many thoughts on the relationships everyone has with each other especially with the directly stated warning that demigods die in horrible nasty ways and this was before the war. I think about dynamics so much in and cross cabins sooo much and lowkey what the point of camp is. I was writing a Luke centric fic a while ago about this because like the idea of children being sacred but camps etymologically related to armies. So the tightrope of your life being a war that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I was always sympathetic to Luke, he had points!! but lmaoo he got sooo lost in the sauce. A part of me is like well if I had an ancient being sending me nightmares and whispering in my ear while I went through the horrors of demigod life under the seemingly apathetic eye of the gods, yeah I get the spiral. But the older I get from being Percy’s age the more I’m like, hey Luke what the fuck 😭 Percy’s life was a sacrifice he was too willing to make and then he did that shit with Annabeth and the sky? And it only got worse. I wonder how much of the thrill is accomplishing hard tasks and having your plans work out, because there is a high in that. And the sunken cost of believing the end justify the means as the guy influencing you begins pressuring you. Enough about him tho. I also love fics exploring the weird relationships that pop up just by living like this.
I headcanon that May’s condition got worse with time. Like dementia or something of the like. Because lowkey if not, Hermes what the fuck was your son doing with someone who physically could not care for him when Camp was right there (not that I think Chiron would do a stellar job, but like at least a steady one.) and literally the tragedy that she never got a chance to be a mom to the best of her ability. There was a time where Luke loved PB&J sandwiches and Koolaid and May will never forget it. If Riordan was big brained enough, he should’ve dropped a hint of this during TLT, something as simple as him recoiling at someone’s sandwich at the lunch table. Or the false rumor that he’s allergic to peanut butter that he himself started. Idk it would’ve been cool to read back to, anchoring him to the experiences that radicalized him.
Just so you know I literally talked myself out of writing the MayHermes doomed love story because I need to finish this first lol.
Literally the question “what are gods” is one of my favorites to see play out. The uncanny valley of the divine playing at humanity or the excessive humanity of the divine who are exaggerated expressions of our perceptions of concepts. It’s a topic worth rambling about.
“ Gaia is the definition of "what's 18 more years?"” LMFAO but for real
I’m also team give Percy a break and was gonna write a HoO past his time but then lol I missed him 😂 it’s like how Jesus was god’s son and that guy got crucified under a divine plan. To be loved by a god is to suffer, but I love him enough to tame the horrors he’ll go through. Also Riordan’s timeline is the bane of my existence.
Literally tho!! Mommy/Daddy issues end lives. I love that musical down, I was sooo thinking of good kid when writing Percy’s abandonment issues.
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